The sonic art project
“soundCOLLECTIVE” – collective trauma, identity and sonic art
was released on 9 November 2015 as a stand-alone project- commemorating the “Night of Broken Glass” (9 November 1938 /Reichskristallnacht), when the NAZI in Germany were destroying the synagogues nationwide in one single night, but will be part of “://self~imaging” and its virtual and physical manifestations.
The project, divided into 3 parts for a better handling, initiated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne would like to sentitize people via sonic art for the phenomenon of collective trauma. The non-visual medium of soundart has a particular potential to express affection via a wide range of soundtools.
Works 11-20
Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece) – , Paths of Fear, 2011, 10 minutes
Nigel Tan (Singapore) – The Train of Thought, 2013, 3:56
ERIZONTE (Spain)- “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”, 2015, 06:33
Lucas Norer (Austria) – The Lisbon Rote Project, 2013, 15:39
Christine Renaudat (France) – Bloody Spring, 2013, 9’52
Edmar Soria (Mexico) – Morphic Babylonia, 2015, 7’ 05”
Wonderfeel (Australia) & Antonio Testa (Italy) – Goldness, 2015, 8:58
Mr.Arnont (Thailand) – Nongyao –SkyDrink, 2014, 20
Ayse Kucuk (Turkey) – Cannibalism, 2013, 7:12
François Dumeaux (France) – Ikarusu, 2011, 10′
Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece) – , Paths of Fear, 2011, 10:00
Paths of Fear for electroacoustic sounds was composed during summer 2011. The piece creates a surreal soundscape which toward the end slowly is developing into a heavy industrial delirium, which collapses under own forces. The reality is amplified and the concrète sound is transformed into an abstract sound object. Complex rhythms introduce archaic soundscapes with powerful gestures. Ecological patterns determine the compositional structure and become resources for further development.
Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece, 1974)
studied composition with Yannis Ioannides, Henri Kergomard, and classical guitar with Evangelos Asimakopoulos in Athens, Greece. In 1999 he moved to England for postgraduate study at the University of York where he completed his MA and PhD in composition with Tony Myatt. His works have been commissioned by institutes and festivals such as the Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard), IRCAM (France), MATA (New York), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), ZKM (Germany), IMEB (France), Siemens Musikstiftung (Germany) and have been performed in over 500 concerts around the world. His compositions have received 60 distinctions and prizes in international competitions, and have been selected by juries in more than 200 international calls for scores. He is founding member of the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association (HELMCA) and from 2004 to 2012 he was board member and president. As an educator, he has taught at the Technological and Educational Institute of Crete, and, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). Since fall 2012 he has been appointed Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas. Kokoras’s sound compositions use timbre as the main element of form. His concept of “holophony” describes his goal that each independent sound (phonos), contributes equally into the synthesis of the total (holos). In both instrumental and electroacoustic writing, his music calls upon a “virtuosity of sound,” emphasizing the precise production of variable sound possibilities and the correct distinction between one timbre and another to convey the musical ideas and structure of the piece. His compositional output is also informed by musical research in Music Information Retrieval compositional strategies, Extended techniques, Tactile sound, Augmented reality, Robotics, Spatial Sound, Synesthesia. More information at http://www.panayiotiskokoras.com
Nigel Tan (Singapore) – The Train of Thought, 2013, 3:56
The Train of Thought is a personal reflection on trauma through the recollection of the past. Made up solely of found sound and field recordings recorded in Japan and Singapore, this piece juxtaposes a dialogue with my grandmother in Chinese dialect on the horrifying events during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II. Paired with the subtle sound of a moving train, I seek to connect these events linearly in real time.
I wanted to create a collage that well represented the way we think, abstract and discombobulated, creating a tense and uncomfortable space allowing you to fully understand the devastation of war. Even though you might not understand the monologue, there is still a sense of displacement and uneasiness that lingers eerily within my grandmothers’ words.
Memories stand the test of time, unwavered and deeply etched within our subconscious. The Train of Thought represents torment and pain not just of the past but also serves as a constant reminder of the suffering and anguish bestowed upon the innocent. Trauma is universal and one that cannot be reversed.
Nigel Tan
is a composer, sound and video artist who works conceptually with various mediums bearing the weight of unorthodox structure with the blend of electroacoustic aberrant sound. He explores the basis of music through different styles and history bearing in mind the importance of the process within layers of texture. Influenced by experimentalist of film and music from both the eastern and western culture, the pieces churned out are intertwined randomly to reflect change which in turn motivates a purpose. He engages in various forms of mixed media, primarily in the film and visual aspect marrying sight with sound through the blend of the abstract and narrative.
Nigel graduated with a diploma in Film, Sound and Video from Singapore’s Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2009 and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Music majoring in Interactive Composition from University Of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts in 2014. He is currently doing his Master of Fine Art at RMIT University, Melbourne. His work includes audiovisual installations and site-specific compositions that have been exhibited at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Instinc Gallery Singapore, The Arts Centre Melbourne, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne Zoo, Andy R Salon and The George Paton Gallery. In addition to this, he actively writes music for film/television, mixed media and performance art.
ERIZONTE (Spain)- “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”, 2015, 06:33
The”Los Caprichos” suite is a music, video and dance performance created by the company ERIZONTE. The piece was created by Erizonte and Scud Hero, and is inspired by the series of 80 prints
“The Caprichos ” by the renown Spanish painter and print maker Francisco de Goya, always modern in his art and incredibly current in themes chosen.
It is shaped in seven movements. Symphonic timbres are used, as are electro acoustic instruments and other sound elements created especially for this work .
The titles of the movements take the name of each of the themes Goya dealt with in this series of engravings: abuse of power; vices of the clergy; love and prostitution; the lack of education in the village and superstitions, bestiary, witches and fantastic creatures.
Being an ERIZONTE project, we can say that the experimental work is in this case the search to overcome the limitations of physical properties of the classical instruments or own technical implementations thanks the possibilities given to us by the new tools in electronic music.
This is to further the limits of some instruments, while respecting the original personality. For example, the notes a violin can give as if it had six strings, or a classical guitar may sound a tremolo unreachable by a human. The result is a relatively formal work, in keeping with the time of Goya, and where experimental is more than ever at the service of the public, interwoven between
elements of the composition.
Erizonte
is an experimental rock band founded in 2002 by the composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Julian Sanz Escalona, linked to the rock and experimental music scene in Spain since 1982.
In 2003 he published his first album under the name Erizonte, entitled “… I heard rain and paid attention” that includes collaborations with important musicians.
In 2010 his second album “Work in Progress” was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award.
In 2011 he created and produced a multidisciplinary show called “Project Amazon” about the world of water from a philosophical perspective, which premiered that year at the Casa de America in Madrid.
In 2012 the label Munster Records published worldwide a collection entitled “Tension” Experimental Spanish Underground 1980-1985” which includes, along with others of similar characteristics, most of his early bands. Julian Sanz is also curator of this album that has received excellent international reviews.
In 2014, together with Scud Hero he composed a contemporary electro-acoustic suite, divided into seven movements to accompany the exhibition of 80 prints that comprise the series “Los Caprichos” by Francisco de Goya, in 5.1 audio format.
In that year found the Company ERIZONTE to premiere in Berlin “Suite Los Caprichos de Goya” in june.
Lucas Norer (Austria) – The Lisbon Rote Project, 2013, 15:39
The Lisbon Route Project“ sound-installation traces the acoustic paths of one of World War II’s main Jewish escape routes, on which thousands of people fled to Lisbon from the Nazi-terror via Marseille, hoping for a passage over the Atlantic. Lucas Norer visited the historical sites of the escape route and documented his journey through field recordings, literary references and interviews from Shoah archives. The Lisbon Route Project creates awareness of the historic fugitive stories, allowing conclusions on the ongoing situation of migrants in Europe.
Due to the regulations of the soundCOLLECTIVE open call I’ve added only one file which consists purely of interview fragments from the Shoah archives. In case you’re interested I can present the piece as an installation with more sound files (description of installation above).
The sound-installation uses traffic cones and converts them into acoustic horns. In this case, however, the traffic cones highlight not only a place but rather set an acoustic focus. The set-up creates a specific content-related and sonic effect: for the listener the historically distanced events are transferred to the here and now via the amplification and focus of the acoustic horns. Therefore the ephemeral episodes of “The Lisbon Route” bridge the historical and temporal distance in an acoustical way.
Lucas Norer
*1982 in Innsbruck/Austria, lives and works in Vienna and Linz. Lucas Norers works are characterised by an interdisciplinary approach and refer to auditory contents such as production and consumption of music, sound, noise, silence and its relation to social, political, architectural and artistic issues. As part of an extended research and manufacturing process Lucas Norer creates audio-visual installations, objects and projects in the public realm. Lucas Norer works solo and together with the artistcollective FAXEN.
In 2011 he graduated from The University of Art & Design Linz. Since then he has shown his work in gallery spaces, contemporary art museums and festivals including: Sound Development City Lisbon & Marseille, Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Manifesta8 – Parallel Events Murcia, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Groce Genoa, EX3 Centro Per L’Arte Contemporanea Florence, Sterischer Herbst Graz, Skulpturenmuseum Marl, The Banff Centre Canada, Steim Amsterdam, Das Weisse Haus Vienna, Kunstpavillon Innsbruck, Galerie 5020 Salzburg.
Winner of European-Soundart-Award 2014.
Christine Renaudat (France) – Bloody Spring, 2013, 9:52
Bloody Spring is a soundscape of the Syrian civil war. It was made with sounds extracted from videos posted on Youtube by civilians and armed groups since 2011 and mixed with parts of french composer Olivier Messiaen’s Oraison (1937). This musical piece is one of the eight movements of his masterpiece Quartet for the end of time, first performed in the Stalag during the Second World War, in 1941. This Quartet became a symbol of one the worst destruction and the symbol of human resistance.
Bloody spring portrays a Syrian revolution systematically and brutally repressed, mostly forgotten by the mass media today. The four parts of this sound piece- Protest, Run, Pray and Die- were made with the voices of the victims: protesters shouting against Assad’s regime, members of the Free Syrian army praying for their dead or injured companions, the voice of the british journalist Mary Colvin killed in Homs in 2012, a little boy singing during his sister burial…This composition draws us to empathize with the millions of persons who have fled Syria since the beginning of the war and those who still live there. Sound has the ability to connect the auditor with this traumatic reality, almost physically. As the composer Pauline Oliveiros wrote: “hearing seems to take place in my stomach”. Listening, in this way, is also sharing burdens.
Bloody Spring, (Maldita primavera in Spanish, Fichu printemps, in French) received in a longer version (22 minutes) a Special mention of the Phonurgia Award jury in january 2015 in Paris, and and the first Honorable mention of The Radio International Biennal of Mexico in october 2014.
It was exhibited as a sound installation in November 2013 in Colombia.
Christine Renaudat
French journalist, writer and sound artist. I’ve been living and working for 12 years in Latin America. Since 2012, I’ve been exploring the sounds of violence. My work has been listened in six countries in Latin America, in Spain, France and Belgium It was awarded in Mexico and Paris (Radio International Biennal 2014: second prize for Memorial de voces, and Phonurgia Awards 2015: special mention for Maldita Primavera). In 2013, my piece Memorial de Voces, a sound immersion into Colombia civil war, has been selected, by the Artraker Fund jury (London) to be part of their catalogue (http://www.artraker.org/home/4586150813). In 2011, I published a book against the war on drugs in Latin America (translated to spanish). I also wrote about Human Rights abuses against the migrants and violence in Central America.
Edmar Soria (Mexico) – Morphic Babylonia, 2015, 7:05
Morphic Babylonia is a sonic art piece made of three connected movements directly influenced by the concept of abduction of human awareness through an everlasting and ever changing form of slavery: technological alienation. This idea is allegorically represented by the objet sonore of a tape. The movements create in conjunction a metaphoric cycle of destruction and reconfiguration of certain and specific media formats. There is a huge difference between physical and digital formats; while the last one can be infinitely reproduced and there is no significative difference between each one of the copies of a single file, the physical case is completely opposite and so, it´s destruction means a specific lost in the specie of that format, in this case
the tape; reflecting with that two specific ideas about technological alienation:
* the rational thinking stagnation which produces indistinguishable human beings (the digital format).
* the irrecoverable part of humanity we lost each time we bind ourselves to the technological machinery (destruction of analog format). These both factors produce one of the most dangerous actual weapons: passive misinformation through extremely massive sensorial digital stimulation… And so, we seat comfortably behind the screen of our computer or mobile device and turn ourselves
in cyberactivists “liking”, “sharing” and “commenting” the drug cartels massive killing in Mexico, the israelipalestinian war, the big corporations human exploitation or the civil wars in middle East. And so we turn ourselves into digital puppets hungry for judging and expressing our point of view about a world we are already completely isolated from. That is the tragedy that this piece underlines.
The primary o bjet sonore is fiery manipulated until it is completely destroyed and this whole event is digital recorded and used as raw material for composition. This raw material is processed using programming language Supercollider t hrough algorithmic parametric control based on author´s own research development on those areas.
Edmar Soria
born in 1983, he is a mexican Composer an director.
Wonderfeel (Australia) & Antonio Testa (Italy) – Goldness, 2015, 8:58
We approached the psyche-shattering experience of collective trauma. Tuning into the coldness, isolation and bewilderment that dominates people in such terrible times. Sinking, drowning, being beaten, and gradually finding solace, finding that thread of human dignity and compassion. A few golden rays warm us as survival and grief become healing.
The organo-industrial groove is created by Wonderfeel, finding music within non-musical sound. Antonio Testa richly layers the piece with sounds cultivated from stones, stalagmites and other organic sources. ‘Goldness’ is a collaboration between Wonderfeel (Australia) and Antonio Testa (Italy).
WONDERFEEL: Wonderfeel creates music to awaken the primal soul. Working with unique organic sounds, building deep immersive grooves. Delivering something to resonate with and enliven unknown parts of our being. With 26 years experience, Wonderfeel sculpts musical journeys. Journeys to take us beyond the fragmentation of modern life, into a space that is experiential and connected. Wonderfeel provides music for sacred dance, Labyrinth rituals, festivals, film, television and creative performance.
ANTONIO TESTA: Producer, composer, musician, percussionist, music tutor, and music therapist. I specialise in organic soundscapes and the creation of musical atmospheres through the use of a vast array of mostly native and shamanic instruments, together with my own instrumental creations made from organic and recycled materials.
I have been active in the field of contemporary music since early 80’s working as a percussionist specialising in tribal and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, ethno-ambient and world music. I am an artist constantly working to expand my knowledge of ethnomusicology and the curative powers of sound, my music (both performed live and recorded) is used widely for healing and various types of therapy sessions, as well as also being used for documentaries, films, exhibitions, TV ads and dance-theatre plays.
Despite being essentially an organic ethno-ambient artist I have through the course of my career, also performed regularly with artists within the contemporary, and dance music scene to create memorable synergies of organic and electronic.
Mr.Arnont Nongyao (Thailand) – SkyDrink, 2014, 20:00
What I make is DIY (Destroy It Yourself). I started out with the ‘Do It Yourself’ ethos, which encouraged me to make something, instead of buying something. Or to make something that you actually
can’t even buy or that is too expensive. When you adapt things around you and you create something yourself and it works, it is very unique.
For me that very process destroys the way we think about perfection and it also undermines the capitalist system. Hence you destroy it yourself by doing it yourself. And that is in itself an experimental process. I made and used DIY instruments that for acoustic sound vibrations for tough an audiences also some of vibrations related supernatural life an audience’s feel.
Arnont Nongyao
Arnont is interested in and does research into sound with concentration on vibration, so most of his works are differently experimental and relative to vibration in order to search for the value of
vibration derived from connected things, such as human beings, objects and society. His works are involved in a speciSic space and audience’s participation. They are also connected with the mode
of listening/hearing in a social situation, and with how people interact with and participate in sound. Some of his selected exhibitions include 16th Media Art Biennale WRO 2015: Test Exposure, Wroclaw, Poland, TRANCE at Gallery VER, Bangkok, Thailand (2014),
Ayse Kucuk (Turkey) – Cannibalism, 2013, 7:12
I heard many stories from my grandparents who lived in USSR during the Stalinist era from which they tried to escape. Some of the relatives were sent to forced labor camps in Siberia. Most of these stories were wrapped with an undefined fear and loneliness faced to which you could easily find yourself lost in silence. It is obviously true that the Stalinist era was one of the bloodiest periods and a major example of human horror in the history. Living in constant fear and routine, almost rhythmic noises associated with the daily horrors made people more perceptive to such noises and sounds, which made them further anxious and brought a closely related sense of annihilation. There was noises of marching, bombs, guns, screams, sirens and many industrial equipment that people got used to hearing throughout their daily lives. I then choose some of these memories and experiences to mix and manipulate, such that the image aspiring to emerge onto the surface is immediately forgotten. Consequently, these recordings allow me to create a space in a different time with a sound that I’ve never physically experienced before. In a sense, this gives me the opportunity to recreate an alternative past in the present in a recurrent fashion. In contrast, if I am in a different space or I look directly at (any) object, then they remind me the sound or the imagination of the sound. It is like a hallucinatory experience or what may be like the voices that the schizophrenics hear from an undefined source.
Ayse Kucuk
b.1983,Istanbul, Turkey, lives and works in London
EDUCATION: 2014 MFA Fine Art Painting ( Distinction ), Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, UK
2005 BFA Fine Art, Yeditepe University, Istanbul
François Dumeaux (France) – Ikarusu, 2011, 10:00
A piece composed to exorcise stupefaction, hebetude and morbid fascination induced by the infinite video loops broadcasted after the earthquake in Japan. A time to think about this human madness : build a huge energy and destruction power. Dedicated to nuclear victims from the past, today and the future. Composition work from 2011/03/19 to 2011/04/24. World creation for the Los Angeles Sonic Odyssey (US) by 2012, march 27.
François Dumeaux (Rodez/France, 1978)
won the SACEM prize and have been graduated by the Bordeaux Conservatory in the Christian Eloy and Christophe Havel’s electroacoustic composition class. Finalist for the acousmatic composition competition Métamorphoses 2008, his piece have been released on the eponym V.A. Annette Vande Gorne invited him to compose « SRA » for the Bernard Parmegiani‘s 80th anniversary.
Since 2011 he is teaching in the Bordeaux Conservatory electroacoustic composition class. In the free improvisation and the live electronic fields, he played with Joan Francés Tisnèr, Alain Cadeillan, Jakes Aymonino, Christian Vieussens, Peìre Boissière and in a few bands : [alveol], la familha Artús, Shapeless, la Theory du Reptil, etc. He also realises radio art, documentaries, sonography for museums and soundtracks for plays, choreographies and movies.
